Family Portraits

 My sister-in-law Kara came into town and she was sweet enough to take our family portraits. We are hard subjects and she did a great job like always!

Silly Dallin as photogenic as ever

Gavin got a great picture the first try. You ask him to smile and he flashes you his biggest and handsomest.

Some daddy and son funny pictures

And of course Lili who is a daddy's girl wanted to be thrown too.

Trying to catch Lili smiling and holding still for the camera is a team effort. It paid off!

Getting the three kids together was even harder. This picture is typical. Lili stuck in the middle of two boys wondering what is going on and Gavin annoyed that Dallin is touching him again. Dallin is happy as can be hugging his favorite people.

My sweet, crazy, loveable boys

And my sweet angel Lili

 Zane and I celebrated our 12 year anniversary in December. I'm so glad I have this man by my side.

Seaworld at Christmas

 Over Christmas break we decided to take a break from the many home projects Zane and I are working on (I swear Zane has been building a garden for 4 months now) and headed to Sea World. My sister Haley's family came along and my parents.

 One of the kids favorite parts was playing in snow.

  Here is how Gavin got around.

 Even Dallin got a little tired and needed to take a break.

 His breaks never last for long.

We love the shows but the kids really love the rides especially the Shamu roller coaster.

 (which we didn't get a picture of.)

 We enjoyed dinner together and then headed home. The kids all slept in the car the whole way home and Zane and I had some peace and quiet. What a great day.

Christmas Celebrations

 In our family, Christmas Eve is our main Christmas celebration where we eat the big turkey dinner, play chimes, act out the Nativity story, and do present exchanges. This makes Christmas day a more low key day where we enjoy the presents, eat left overs, relax, and play games. My mom puts a lot of work into Christmas Eve and it is one of my favorite nights of the year.

We started the evening off with chimes. We played a few songs with the kids before they got bored and went outside to play.

The grownups then play more difficult music with harmonies which you can see takes a lot of concentration.

Some have to concentrate more than others!

Lili loves being with my mom. Good thing she is so light!

 After dinner my dad read the Nativity Story and the kids acted it out. 

Gavin did a great job taking care of his sheep.

Dallin was also a shepherd who probably took down some bad guys on his way to Bethlehem.

 We play a few games. During this game when you roll a double, you quickly get dressed in the winter gear then try to open the present (with the big gloves on). It is a lot of fun. Whoever can get the present open (which has been wrapped creatively) gets it!

 We also play a white elephant game except that my mom gets cool presents that we all fight over. The kids are ready to play their version.

My siblings who didn't make it out for Christmas Eve all got in on the game thanks to technology.

 My dessert. It was yummy!

Lili and Bryson got a lot of attention from their cousins. They loved it!

Christmas Day was more low key and quiet. We enjoyed our presents by going on a bike ride with the boys' new bikes. My family came out later for games. I'm really bad about taking pictures during the present opening. I rather not be behind a camera and enjoy the moment.

Lili's new ride.

Gavin giving his new hulk a hulk squeeze!

We had a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Break with lots of Family

 We started Christmas break excited to see cousins who were visiting (my brother Jared's family).

Excited may not cover it!

 

Lili is a very friendly baby. She rarely smiles at people, but she will go to anyone and likes to explore. She will go to anyone except my brother Jared. She took one look at him and burst into tears.

He kept trying for two weeks to get her to like him.

I think he found success at the end. She sure made him work for it though.

We made gingerbread houses at Grandma's house. I think there was more eating than actually making anything.

Lili met up with her best bud Ellery (my brother Clayton's daughter). All the girl cousins loved playing with Lili.

We are lucky to be by so much family and have family come into town!